Detours might be the best ways to avoid speed-camera tickets in the mail for Barrie drivers.
With the city’s automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras ready to relocate at month’s end, motorists are already looking at ways not to be tagged with a speeding ticket.
The ASE cameras will be moved to northbound Essa Road near Timothy Christian School and westbound Ardagh Road in the vicinity of Heritage Baptist Church at the end of February.
“I will try to avoid these locations, to be honest,” said Jodey Chambers, a Barrie resident for 20 years. “I’m not much of a speeder, but I find the new system misleading and I don't want to speed without realizing it.
“As I mentioned, I prefer not to be distracted while driving near children trying to figure out the time, speed at that time and the speed I'm going.”
ASE is a system that uses a camera and a speed-measuring device to detect and capture images of the licence plates of vehicles travelling faster than the posted speed limit in school or community safety zones.
Barrie’s first two ASE locations, operational since early December, are eastbound on Big Bay Point Road near Willow Landing and St. Michael the Archangel Catholic elementary schools and southbound on Anne Street North, near Portage View and Nouvelle-Alliance schools.
“The two new areas (Essa and Ardagh) are not ones I travel in very often, so I admit I am afraid that if I do go there I won't recognize the change,” Chambers said, “and several weeks later I too may find a fine (ticket) in my mailbox.”
John Proctor, also of Barrie, said city drivers need to get used to alternating ASE camera locations.
“I do, however, see a change in most drivers slowing down, as per the fear factor, and you have to get used to not being a lead foot around town,” he said.
“I see it in myself practising to get used to slower speeds, not all bad until you slip and get a ticket ... from Big Brother.”
Gordon MacBain, who has lived in Barrie’s Pringle Park area since 2006, said it’s not the camera locations but how the system works that concerns him.
“I rarely use either of these (new) routes, but in general I would not go out of my way to avoid the cameras,” he said. “I did, however, wonder if there was any signage to indicate the 40-km/h speed limit, as it would appear that the flashing yellow lights are not on.”
The flashing lights to warn of a 40-km/h zone have been deactivated because Ontario law requires the flashing beacons, normally in place, not be active when the sign indicating the times of the 40-km/h speed limit has been installed.
Since the ASE cameras became operational in late 2023, city council decided times will be simplified and clarified for drivers navigating the new system.
By direct motion in mid-January, council changed what’s called the city’s rates of speed bylaw. Enforcement times will move to 7 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, Sept. 1 to June 30 at the ASE and variable times zones, basically when students are in school, and when the new camera locations are operational.
Enforcement times are now a complicated 7:40 a.m. to 9:25 a.m., 12:55-2:05 p.m., 3-4 p.m., Monday to Friday, September until June.
“The new proposal is clearer, but still not as clear as ‘when flashing’, an instant reminder,” Chambers said. “They should make sure to put huge 40 (km/h) signs to help people know. At the end of the day we're trying to protect children.”
Ticket threshold speeds have not been revealed by the city, other than the 40-km/h speed limit — although BarrieToday has interviewed a man who received an $80 ticket for travelling 52 km/h on Anne Street North, a 40-km/h zone, in early January.
Michelle Banfield, Barrie’s executive director of development services, is to have a public memo to city council in mid-March to report the first ASE locations’ results, after the cameras are moved to the new spots in late February.
Barrie staff have said the memo will report on three months of data — since the speed cameras were first operational in early December — but information on the city’s percentage of the fine revenue is not available at this point.
City staff say it’s difficult to provide a percentage, as the net revenues fluctuate due to factors such as timing of payment, extension of payment, payments not being made and trials, where the fines can be reduced.
“I honestly don't agree with photo-based fines, but I believe if Barrie or any community wants to use them, they should put them in areas that will not require removing working safety precautions that help keep children safe,” Chambers said. “The flashing lights are far better at warning drivers to slow down than the threat of a fine.”
The ASE fines go into Provincial Offences Court revenues for the municipality where fines are laid, and are treated no differently than the charges that would be laid by a police service.
The speeding penalty is a fine, but tickets issued through ASE don’t result in demerit points. The fine is based on by how much the driver is exceeding the speed limit. These types of charges are the responsibility of the vehicle owner, not the driver.
The city has said ASE speeding tickets will arrive within 30 days after the violation occurs.
Barrie’s cameras are being rotated through different community safety zones every few months, and there are plenty of choices.
The city has 27 community safety zones. They are established by municipal councils through a bylaw, and cover road areas where there is a higher risk to, or concern for, drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and/or others who share the space.
Highway Traffic Act fines, including speeding, are doubled in community safety zones and many community safety zones are located close to schools.
Barrie has 81 sections of road designated as community safety zones in accordance with the community safety zones bylaw.
Barrie’s ASE camera equipment cost $100,000 and yearly operating costs are $370,000, staff have said. The fines will cover a portion of the ASE program’s costs.
Local Authority Services (LAS), the business services arm of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), and the city signed an agreement last summer that LAS will initially fund two provincial offences officers who will process speed-camera violations in Barrie.
